idiom N. /习语;成语/expression whose meaning as a whole differs from the meanings of its individual words; distinctive style. The phrase "to lose one's marbles" is an idiom: if I say that Joe's lost his marbles, I'm not as king you to find some for him. I'm telling you idiomatically that he's crazy.
idiosyncrasy N. /特性，特质;古怪的，离心的/individual trait, usually odd in nature; eccentricity. One of Richard Nixon's little idiosyncrasies was his liking for ketchup on cottage cheese. One of Hannibal Lecter's little idiosyncrasies was his liking for human flesh. idiosyncratic, ADJ.
idolatry N. /过度崇拜/worship of idols; excessive admiration. Such idolatry of singers of country music is typical of the excessive enthusiasm of youth.
ignite V. /点燃/kindle; light. When Desi crooned, "Baby, light my fire," literal-minded Lucy looked around for some paper to ignite.
ignoble ADJ. /不高贵的;不光彩的/of lowly origin; unworthy. This plan is inspired by ignoble motives and I must, therefore, oppose it.
ignominy N. /丢脸;抹黑;耻辱/deep disgrace; shame or dishonor. To lose the Ping-Pong match to a trained chimpanzee! How could Rollo stand the ignominy of his defeat? ignominious, ADJ.
illicit ADJ. /非法的/illegal. The defense attorney maintained that his client had never performed any illicit action.
illimitable ADJ. /无限/infinite. Man, having explored the far corners of the earth, is now reaching out into illimitable space.
illuminate V. /照亮;明朗;澄清/brighten; clear up or make understandable; enlighte n. Just as a lamp can illuminate a dark room, a perceptive comment can illuminate a knotty problem.
illusion N. /幻觉/misleading vision. It is easy to create an optical illusion in which lines of equal length appear different.
illusory ADJ. /虚幻的，不真实的/deceptive; not real. Unfortunately, the costs of running the lemonade stand were so high that Tom's profits proved illusory.
imbalance N. /不平衡，不成比例/lack of balance or symmetry; disproportion. To correct racial imbalance in the schools, school boards have bussed black children into white neighborhoods and white children into black ones.
imbibe V. /吸收/drink in. The dry soil imbibed the rain quickly.
immaculate ADJ. /无暇的/spotless; flawless; absolutely clean. Ken and Jessica were wonderful tenants and left the apartment in immaculate condition when they moved out.
imminent ADJ. /即将到来，逼近的/near at hand; impending. Rosa was such a last-minute worker that she could never start writing a paper till the deadline was imminent.
immobility N. /无法移动，不可移动的/state of being immovable. Modern armies cannot afford the luxury of immobility, as they are vulnerable to attack while standing still.
immune ADJ. /免疫;抵抗/resistant to; free or exempt from. Fortunately, Florence had contracted chicken pox as a child and was immune to it when her baby broke out in spots.
immutable ADJ. /不可动摇的，不能改变的/unchangeable. All things change over time; nothing is immutable.
impair V. /伤害/injure; hurt. Drinking alcohol can impair your ability to drive safely; if you're going to drink, don't drive.
impale V. /刺穿/Pierce. He was impaled by the spear hurled by his adversary.
impalpable ADJ. /难以明了，难以觉察的/imperceptible; intangible. The ash is so fine that it is impalpable to the touch but it can be seen as a fine layer covering the window ledge.
impart V. /赋予;告诉/reveal or tell; grant. Polly begged Grandma to impart her recipe for rugeleh, but her grandmother wouldn't say a word.
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